Afterlife Department

Chapter 172 - Embedded

Further news about Huo Ling's 'accident' was suppressed both domestically and internationally. Those who do not know the truth can only speculate about what fully happened in the 'accident' resulting to Huo Ling's death. Meanwhile, those who know the truth make their own plans.

As for Huo Ling, the man in question, the protagonist of the 'accident', he's pondering about life. "So, the reason why I am still here instead of being reincarnated is because I have an attachment?" he asked as he turned to Yi Bing who was calmly sitting beside him in the bench, watching he rise and fall of the fountains in front of them.

Yi Bing touched the water and it turned to ice. "Yes." he answered. "The souls would be reincarnated, unless they have an attachment that prevents them from going to, thus they remain here." He explained as he let the frozen water turn back and fall back to the ground.

"Then, what is my attachment?" Huo Ling asked.

"You tell me." Yi Bing said and turned to Huo Ling. Seeing that Huo Ling just stared back at him, the corner of his lip curled up imperceptibly. "After one's death, their soul is separated from their body. If they retain their memories, then we can solve the knot in their heart and made them pass on. As for those who got an amnesia when they woke up as a soul – " he said. " – it's either due to the shock they received when they died, resulting to some of their memories lost, or…" his voice trailed off.

"'or'?" Huo Ling blinked, waiting for Yi Bing to continue what he's going to say.

Seeing this, Yi Bing chuckled. So it is a wolf in sheep's clothing? He thought as his eyes narrowed while he stared at Huo Ling. "Or, they wouldn't recover their memories at all." He continued.

"Then, how will you solve the knot in their heart… this so-called 'attachment'?" Huo Ling asked.

"We guide the souls to recover their memories until we found some clues and piece them, then help the soul resolve it." Yi Bing answered. "As for when we meet a dead end…" his eyes narrowed before he blinked. "We can do nothing but bring them to the Pathway of the Clouds and send them to their reincarnation." He said.

"Huh? Would there be some problems if that happened?" Huo Ling asked.

"Of course, since their soul still have some unresolved business." Yi Bing answered.

"Then…"

"Their would-be personality in that life would be affected because of the problem in their soul, resulting to making some wrong decisions in their life, then…" Yi Bing said.

"Then their life in that world would be messed up." Huo Ling muttered. Yi Bing nodded. "Then, when they die and turn into a soul again, their attachments…" wouldn't they pile up? He thought.

"As you thought, their former attachment would pile up with their new attachment." Yi Bing said. "Or, their new attachment would bury their former attachment." He added.

Huo Ling's brows knotted. "That's unfair." He said.

"There's no unfairness in death." Yi Bing said.

"Then, how do you make their former and new attachments?" Huo Ling asked.

"We've already done our best, so it's the souls' problem that they forgotten their memories and left their former attachments unresolved." Yi Bing explained.

"That's shirking responsibility!" Huo Ling said.

"Is it?" Yi Bing said and looked at Huo Ling's eyes. "Maybe it is, and it's them shirking their responsibility onto us. One must be responsible of his own deeds. 'Ignorance of the law excuses no one.', as they say. Just because they lost their memories, they'd dump their problems on us?" he asked. "The Afterlife Department was created to not give charity. The grim reapers are not voluntary workers. We're already giving charity the best we could." He told him before he leaned his back on the bench, ignoring the shocked look on Huo Ling's face. "As I've said, death is fair. However, should it only be applied on the souls in the afterlife? What about the grim reapers?" he asked and slowly turned to Huo Ling as he waited him to digest everything that he said. "We work but we're not paid. Don't you think we are pitiful?" he asked as he blinked.

"…" dang. This man… ehem, grim reaper must have said all that just to invoke my sympathy, didn't he? Huo Ling thought as his face darkened.

Seeing Huo Ling's twisted expression, Yi Bing held back his smile. "If you're that interested to be a grim reaper, wait for four more lifetimes and reapply." He told him.

"'four more lifetimes'?" Huo Ling said. "You mean, this is my fifth one?" he asked.

"Yeah." Yi Bing nodded. "When you've reached and are done with your ninth life, make sure you keep your word." He told him and smiled.

"…" what 'reached and done with your x life'? Isn't this just cursing me? Wait – Huo Ling thought. I'm the one who started this, so isn't this also me cursing my lives ahead? He looked at Yi Bing and when he saw him smiling, suddenly, he felt a bubbling irritation in his chest. Why do I feel like something similar to this has happened before? He thought and frowned. He realized how wrong his impression of grim reapers has been.

Grim reapers are all bones, wear black, hooded cloaks and carries sickles? Then, what is this 'man' in front of him who have flesh, and even smooth and healthy skin that wore a dark suit perfectly hugging his body and is carrying a briefcase with a smile on his face? Also, he hates to admit it, but the 'man' claiming to be a grim reaper is handsome! How he wished his eyes were blind. Who can tell him, which of them is the real grim reaper?

Opposite to Huo Ling's 'fun' afterlife, Lei Shan is the opposite. He had reached his home and he then just remembered, his mother was with Huo Meiying and Hao Baiyun sent them to his villa. Should he go over there?

He shook his head. Even though both he and Hao Baiyun were close to Huo Ling, but they themselves act civilly towards each other. After all, they led different lives and the only point of connection of them is Huo Ling. One is a friend, and the other is a cousin.

"Xiao Ling…" he muttered as his exhausted body fell on the sofa. He placed his arm on his forehead and he stared at the ceiling.

He remembered the first time he met Huo Ling was when the royal family held a birthday banquet for the crown prince. That time, his family got an invitation because of his uncle who got the favor of the royal family for some reason. That moment when he met Huo Ling and found he was a prince, his first thought was that he wasn't favored. He doesn't know how he came up to that thought. Maybe because Huo Ling was just one-fourth of a royal blood, or it was something.

But, that wasn't that made him approach Huo Ling. It was because of Huo Ling's temperament. He felt like he's incompatible of this world. Maybe that made him alienate the others, or him alienated by them. Whichever it was, the result is that Huo Ling didn't have any friends. The moment their eyes met, a thought came into his mind.

"I want to befriend this person." Whether it was he was also lonely like Huo Ling, and misery loves company, so they clicked. Then, as time goes by, his feelings towards Huo Ling became stronger. It wasn't a feeling between lovers, but something akin to that. Surprisingly, Huo Ling was the same. And both of them was finally enlightened when a third person entered their world – Kale or Hao Baiyun. The moment they realized it was a lover they see in each other, they concluded that they have to find each their person that their feelings towards them was embedded in their soul.

"Xiao Ling… you missed to meet the 'person' you're looking for…" he said as his eyes watered, and his tears fell from his eyes and streamed down his face. "Or, did you finally meet them, now that you're dead?" he asked and closed his eyes. He could feel his soul throbbing once again, urging him to find that 'person'. "Who… who is he?" he asked as he closed his eyes tight. "Should I also have to die to meet them?" he asked as he curled up his body. Then, he reminisced in his dreams.

"… Shan… Shan…" he heard his own voice called to the silhouette of the other person. "Shan… Qi Shan!"

His eyes snapped open and wide. "Qi Shan… Qi Shan…!" he muttered under his breath as his chest heaved up and down, catching his breath. He immediately wrote the name on a piece of paper before he took a picture of it for him to remember the name again.